U.S. President Donald Trump, declaring a national emergency because of tensions with Iran, swept aside objections from Congress on Friday to complete the sale of over $8 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. The Trump administration informed congressional committees that it will go ahead with 22 military sales to the Saudis, United Arab Emirates and Jordan, infuriating lawmakers by circumventing a long-standing precedent for congressional review of major weapons sales.

The few women who are CEOs of the largest U.S. companies typically make more money than their male counterparts but aren't close to the top of the leaderboard for pay packages. The median pay package for female CEOs in the 2018 fiscal year was $12.7 million, compared with $11.2 million for men, according to data analyzed by Equilar for The Associated Press. The top earner there — Discovery CEO David Zaslav — earned a pay package worth almost six times that of the most highly paid female CEO — Mary Barra of General Motors.

The U.S. Department of Defence is close to expanding its legendary future warfare and technology agency DARPA by combining it with the Pentagon office in charge of adapting existing weapons to new uses, people familiar with the plans said. The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency would absorb the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) and centralize more research units under the Pentagon's Chief Technology Officer Michael Griffin. SCO reported directly to the defence secretary, removing it from traditional bureaucratic channels at the Pentagon.

A top NASA executive hired in April to guide strategy for returning astronauts to the moon by 2024 has resigned, the space agency said on Thursday, the culmination of internal strife and dwindling congressional support for the lunar initiative. Mark Sirangelo, named six weeks ago as special assistant to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left the agency as NASA abandoned a reorganization plan due to a chilly reception on Capitol Hill, Bridenstine said in a statement. Two individuals close to the space program and familiar with the situation said Sirangelo was escorted out of NASA's headquarters in Washington on Wednesday after his resignation.

A top NASA executive hired in April to guide strategy for returning astronauts to the moon by 2024 has resigned, the space agency said on Thursday, the culmination of internal strife and dwindling congressional support for the lunar initiative. Mark Sirangelo, named six weeks ago as special assistant to NASA chief Jim Bridenstine, "has opted to pursue other opportunities," Bridenstine said in a statement, after NASA's new lunar exploration plan met a chilly reception on Capitol Hill. Two sources familiar with the situation said Sirangelo was escorted out of NASA's headquarters in Washington after his resignation.

The Senate Armed Services Committee unveiled a draft bill on Thursday that targets China on several fronts, from stemming the erosion of the U.S. military advantage against Beijing to countering the growing Chinese influence around the world. The $750-billion proposal would also authorize the U.S. military to buy more Lockheed Martin F-35 jets and fully fund a program to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapon arsenal. "A lot of universities just don't have the information about whether research they're conducting is under threat," a senior committee aide told reporters.

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday unveiled a draft $750 billion defense policy bill that would authorize more Lockheed Martin F-35 jets for the United States and effectively end Turkey's partnership in the program if Ankara pursues a plan to buy a Russian missile defense system. In March, U.S. President Donald Trump requested $750 billion for defense, a budget that included more money to build ships and buy jets. In the coming weeks the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, controlled by Democrats, will release its own version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which must be reconciled with the version in the Republican-controlled Senate before it can be passed.

Billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX accused the U.S. Air Force of breaking contracting rules when it awarded money to three rocket makers but passed on Musk's rival bid, and said the tender should be reopened, according to a court filing unsealed on Wednesday. In the complaint, Space Exploration Technologies Corp said contracts were awarded for three "unbuilt, unflown" rocket systems that would not be ready to fly under the government's timeline, "defeating the very objectives" outlined by the Air Force's program. SpaceX asked the court to force the Air Force to reopen the $2.3 billion Launch Service Agreements competition and reconsider the Hawthorne, California-based company's proposal.

KWAJALEIN ATOLL, Marshall Islands, May 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force Space Fence system detected the breakup field from an anti-satellite test conducted by India during a scheduled endurance exercise of the new space surveillance radar. As MICROSAT-R was expected to pass through the un-cued surveillance fence, Space Fence automatically issued a "breakup alert" indicating there were multiple objects within close proximity. Space Fence observed a significant amount of debris tracks surrounding the time of the event crossing labeled as uncorrelated targets.

Retail Sales as released by the Census Bureau have become wildly inconsistent from month to month. Perhaps that means that the weather really is to blame when a series of retailers report weaker than expected sales growth, or should I say sales contraction? Let's revisit the April Retail Sales data (which is not part of this reporting season, mind you), Non-store retailers printed at -0.2% month over month, despite a league leading 9.0% growth year over year.

The Kremlin on Wednesday condemned as unacceptable an alleged U.S. ultimatum to Turkey designed to force it to cancel a deal to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and purchase U.S. Patriot missile systems instead. Moscow was responding to a CNBC report which said Washington had given Turkey just over two weeks to scrap the Russian deal and do an arms deal with the United States instead or risk severe penalties. Turkey and the United States have been at odds on several fronts, including Ankara's decision to buy the S-400s, which cannot be integrated into NATO systems.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said he sees an improvement in talks with the United States over the purchase of Russian S-400 defence systems and U.S. F-35 fighter jets, but added that Ankara was also preparing for potential U.S. sanctions. Turkey and the United States are at odds over Ankara's decision to buy the S-400s, which cannot be integrated into NATO systems. Washington says the move would jeopardise Ankara's role in building Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, which it says would be compromised by the S-400s.